Journalist, lecturer and researcher

Blogging faux pas

What kind of idiot would give a lecture about blogging and show an example of their blog to students which blatantly fails to adhere to the very guidelines they are trying to teach…

On that note I am attempting to practise (not practice) what I preach and get my blog up to date. However there are a series of ways in which I have failed to blog ‘correctly’.

1. Post regular updates (once every few months not enough)

2. Break up the text with photos, video, graphics (bit cumbersome/faffy with Blogger)

3. Put in lots of hyperlinks (urm, I do occasionally)

4. Respond to comments (need to have some first, other than my Dad saying hello)

5. Write about a niche subject

The fifth point is where I have failed miserably. Since my hectic life involves about 5 different jobs I have found it difficult to concentrate on just one, feeling I am neglecting the others. The blog works particularly well when Film Northants is in full flow (more on that below), but it is not sustainable as blog fodder all year round. Hence I have written random rants about the Big Society, how Inception is not really a great film after all and the joys/frustrations of social media. Far from niche!

So for now I am going to concentrate on rule number 1 and try to post regular updates, before working my way onto the other rules (blogging is all about flexibility after all).

I hope to move across to WordPress soon as Blogger has various problems (you can’t copy and paste, loading pics is slow and it is difficult to keep track of your blog traffic).

For the uninitiated I am chair of a short film festival in Northamptonshire which I founded 4 years ago. This year we are developing the committee by taking on new members, trying to increase our funding and getting young people more involved.

We are currently in the midst of finance meetings and hope to launch and get promotional material on the streets by mid March. The deadline for film entries is likely to be August with the red carpet screening at Cineworld in September.

Other changes this year are that we have moved our Facebook group to a Page to allow for more flexibility, statistical feedback and prominence on members newsfeeds. This also allows us to embed the Facebook page into our website.

Had a successful second trip to Ghana in October 2010 with development charity FREED UK. This resulted in loads of media coverage in the UK and Africa including local and national newspapers, websites and niche magazines including Third Sector. I also did a radio slot with my husband on BBC Radio Northampton, as he came out to Ghana with me.

In the meantime we have been liaising with another volunteer currently out in Nandom, Ghana about what the local schools and technology colleges need. We hope to get sewing machines, welding machines, electronic power tools and books out to them this year.

I also set up a Facebook page for the charity to update all the latest news and I have also been appointed the charity’s official press officer.

There is a members meeting in March to discuss the aims of 2011 and the next trip overseas.

Mega busy with teaching and particularly enjoying Writing the Message Online at Hallam University. Have set up relevant Facebook Page and Twitter hasgtag #msg11. Students appear to be getting into it and I have heard a few interesting ideas for their blogs including hyperlocal news from a Yorkshire village, political turmoil in Africa and film noir. All great stuff.

I’m also still doing publicity for Sustrans and Connect2 Northampton including press releases, more radio slots and getting a public piece of art into the headlines.

Also need to update both my website and The Art of Wood, particularly as I have been commissioned to design two more content management system websites for two more furniture companies.

PhD

Still working on my PhD and interviewing journalists and studying social media plus the use of comments on local newspaper websites. I am quickly discovering there has been little content analysis on website comments, so there is a niche I can get into.

Have to go now and meet with fellow PhD students. Promise to blog again soon, and do more of rule 3 although I have made a few in roads today…
Ps. Have moved to WordPress from rubbish Blogger. Still a few weird spacing issues to overcome though…